AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh, that’s wonderful,” Mom enthuses. “A woman in such a senior leadership position. That wouldn’t happen in my old pack, I can tell you that. I’d love to hear more about how you rose through the ranks. If you have clear memories of your time with Maxim. I assume you can recall everything that happened between the two of you. Especially recently.”
Hermione’s forehead furrows and the muscles in her throat work harder as she tries to swallow. But she’s clearly still struggling when she says, “I think I do. At least, I did until…” She presses a hand to the side of her head with a soft curse. “What the hell is happening?”
I risk touching fingers to her shoulder. “Are you okay? Feeling sick?”
“No, I’m feeling…crazy.” She looks up, her wide eyes meeting mine. Instantly, I can tell the woman I knew before is back and that she remembers me. “What’s going on, Willow? A second ago I didn’t remember how we met. Or our talk in the Atrium or—”
“It’s Cam,” I say, hurrying to explain as the car begins to slow. “He’s been using his pack gift to alienate our allies, manipulate Jimmy, and maybe even support Kelley’s bid to rule.” I motion toward her chest. “And to get you on his side, apparently. But my mom has the same pack gift. Hers cancels his out.”
Hermione curses again but rolls her shoulders back as the car comes to a stop. “All right. Hopefully her mojo will work as well on Jimmy as it did on me, and we can get Cam in a cell with soundproof walls ASAP.”
“Cutting out his tongue would also work,” my mom says softly, but cheerfully, as we step out into the wide hallway on Jimmy’s floor.
I turn to her, my brows shooting up my forehead.
“What?” She blinks innocently. “That’s what they did to all the wolves who manifested this gift in the Middle Ages. It’s one of the reasons I always hid it.” She sniffs. “Though I can’t say I really blame them. A person shouldn’t abuse a gift like this. With great power comes great responsibility. And if you can’t respect that, maybe you don’t deserve a tongue.”
“Wow. That’s…dark, Mom,” I say as we follow Hermione down the hall.
“But an excellent point,” Hermione says, stopping in front of Jimmy’s door. She lowers her voice as she says with a smile, “Go get him, Wendy. We’ve got your back.”
And we do.
As we join Jimmy in his sunny sitting room—the one where I convinced him Maxim and I should be married—my heart is still doing its best to punch a hole through my ribs. I’m scared to death, but the entire thing is over in just a few minutes.
Cam, who’s standing by the window, lurking as always, realizes something’s up with Hermione right away. While he’s distracted trying to get her out of the room—presumably to reassert control over her memories—my mom swoops in and frees Jimmy.
It takes Maxim’s dad a little longer to recover—he’s older and not in as good health as Hermione—but once he does, he’s righteously pissed.
And Cam is…destroyed.
“Please, brother,” he says, falling to his knees in front of Jimmy’s wheelchair. “Please forgive me. I didn’t see another way. I did what I thought I had to do to protect you from Bane. And then Kelley contacted me, and she seemed like the lesser of two evils and…” His breath shudders out. “It all got out of control so fast. But I swear, you were in my heart the entire time. I only wanted what was best for you.”
“I’m a grown man, not a child,” Jimmy says, anger and grief warring in his tone. “And I was your Alpha for decades. I’m not a man who can’t handle hard choices, Cameron. And I’m certainly not a man who appreciates having my choices—and my memories—taken away.” His hands curl into fists. “No matter how ugly they are.”
“Permission to take this man into custody, Alpha?” Hermione asks.
Jimmy nods, then glances over to my mom, who’s been sitting quietly beside Dad on the couch since the shit hit the fan. “Can you go with her? Make sure he doesn’t influence anyone else?”
Mom nods and pops to her feet. “I can and I will. And I’m…so sorry,” she adds in a softer voice. “I don’t know what came back to you, but I could feel that it was…hard. Very hard.”
Jimmy nods, tears in his usually dancing eyes. “It was. Bane was the one. He’s the one who did this to me. Who put me in this chair. Who nearly killed his own father.”
“No father should have to remember something like that,” Cam says as Hermione pulls him to his feet and secures his hands behind him with metal ties from the small pouch on her belt. “It’s too much for a man to bear. I was trying to protect you, Alpha, I was—”
“I suggest you turn your attention to protecting yourself, Cameron,” Jimmy cuts in. “You’re going to need protection. And mercy. Get out of my sight and I’ll do my best to find some in my heart.” Cam starts to speak again, but Jimmy shouts in a surprisingly loud voice, “Go. Now. Before I decide to listen to the part of me that wants to revive public hangings.”
Hermione drags a softly sobbing Cam from the room. My mother follows, squeezing my hand on the way by and whispering, “It’s okay if you want to share the news while I’m gone. I think Jimmy could use something to look forward to.”
“What’s that?” Jimmy asks, his voice rough as his attention shifts from my mother’s departing form to my face. “Good news, I hope?”
I nod. “Yes. Maxim and I… We’re pregnant.”
A pained expression flashes behind his eyes. “Oh. I…” He sighs. “I heard about what happened, Willow. The night before you left. I’m so sorry. I didn’t raise my son that way. Either of them.”
“No, no, it’s okay,” I assure him. “Truly. It’s better than okay. A lot has happened since then and Maxim and I…” I hold up a hand, willing myself to stick to just the most important pieces of information. We don’t have time to hash through everything that’s happened in the past two days. “We’ve worked through all of that and put it behind us. We’re committed to moving forward as a couple and in a really good place, actually.” I gulp air. “Which is why we have to get ready to face Kelley. There isn’t any time to waste. If we don’t stop her tonight…”
I force out the rest of the information, hating every second of hearing the horrible truth aloud, and hating the soft, smug glow of my eyes even more.
